Time-controlled feeding device



0. EGELAND.

TIME CONTROLLED FEEDING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JAN. I8, 1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l- Patented 001;. 4, 1921.

O. EGELAND.

TIME CONTROLLED FEEDING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED 11m. 1a. 1921.

1 1,392,311, Patented Oct. 4,1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2- 0. EGELAND. TIME CONTROLLED FEEDING DEVICE APPLICATION FILED JAN. 13, I921.

1,392, 1 Patented 0ct.4, 1921. I

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3" i 4 I gwuova oz 050a? V fikeZd/flaf Cuban;

'0. EGEL AND.

L TIME CONTROLLED FEEDING DEVICE.

' APPLICATION FILED mms. 1921.

' 1,392,311; Patented Oct. 4, 1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

UNITED STA T E shl ATENT OFFICE.

' QSCAR EGELAND, OI? MOVIII'LILE, NORTH DAKOTA.

. TIME-CONTROLLED FEEDING DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern: 7

I Be it known that I, OSCAR EGELAND, citizen of the United States, McVille, in the county of Nelson, State of North Dakota, have invented a new and useful Time controlled Feeding Device; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to time controlled feeding devices for stables and the like, and has for its object toprovide a device of this character controlled by a clock so constructed that the mechanism may beplaced into operation at a predetermined time so as to cause feed to be deposited in a plurality of feeding troughs.

A further object is to'proyide spiral conveyer mechanism from a feed bin, said mechanism comprising a spiral conveyer disposed in a horizontally disposed conveyer pipe having downwardly extending discharge pipes.

vided with pivoted damper members said damper members being so positioned that when one is opened the other is closed to provide mechanism operated by a motor for simultaneouslyoperating lthe conveyer and dampers as the upper dampers are closed, thereby allowing the feed between the dampers to' be discharged into the feeding troughs.- Also to a time controlled circuit breaking and'jmak ing mechanism for starting and stopping the motor at a predetermined time;

With the above and other'objects in'view the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter setv forth, shown in the drawings, described and.

claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Figure 1 is a ing device.

front elevation of the feed- Fig. 2 18 an enlarged view inelevation of.

one end of the feeding mechanism and the time controlled starting mechanism. h

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view through the end of the horizontal conveyer pipe and the feed bin. 1

Fig. 4 is an enlarged front elevation of the spring motor.

residing .at V

The. discharge pipes are pr o-,

provide.

Specification'of Letters latent. Pate ted Oct. 4,1921. Application filed January 18, i

"Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates a frame work, to which frame work is secured yokes 2 through which animals place their heads. Also secured to the frame work 1 are feedtroughs 3, into which feed troughs feed is adapted to be deposited by the mechanism hereinafter set forth. Framework 1 is preferably located on one floor and the supply bin 4 on a floor above, however this arrangement may be varied if so desired. Disposed below the flooring 5 is the horizontally disposed conveyer pipe 6, which is provided with a spiral conveyer 7. Spiral conveyer 7 hasits shaft 8 ext'ending through the lower end 9 of the feed bin 4 and is provided with a conveyer worm 10, which'forces feed into lower end 9 of the feed bin. Also disposed in thebin 4 is a spiral-conveyer 11,.which conveyer is operated through sprocket and chain connections 12 and 13 with the shaft 8. Spiral conveyer 11 forms means for preventing the feed within the bin 4 from packing and jamming so that it will not feed downwardly and into the conveyer pipe 6. Extending downwardly from the conveyer pipe *6. are discharge pipes 14, the. lower ends of which are disposed above the feed ing troughs 3, sothat feed will be deposited in said feeding troughs. 7

The end 15 of the shaftSis provided with a bevel. gear 16, which meshes with the bevel gear 17 carried by a shaft 18. When the bevel gears are rotated it will be seen that thespiral conveyer will be rotated that the feed will be moved through the conveyer pipe 6 and into the discharge pipes 14. Secured to the shaft 18 is a pulley 19, which pulley is arrow a, by means of, a belt connection 20 with the motor 21. Secured to an upright 22 so that they will. rotate, are pulleys 23, which pulleys are rotated in the direction of the arrows b by means of apulley and belt connection 24 and 25. Pulleys 23 are 7 is a transverse sectional view.

the conveyer pipe. G and prevents jamming of the feed in the] rotated in the direction of the I provided'with crank arms 26 to the ends of which are pivotally connected connecting rods 27, said connecting rods being in turn connected at their other end to damper arms 28, which control dampers 29 and 30. Normally dampers 30 are closed, and the clampers are adapted to be simultaneously moved in such a manner that the dampers29 will close as the dampers 30 open, thereby allowing the food located between the dampers to be' disposed into the feed troughs 3, at the same time that further discharge of feed is cut off.

Secured to the upright 22 is a conventional form of clock 31 to the alarm shaft 32 of which, a cam 33 is secured, said cam as the alarm starts at a predetermined time rotates and forces the connecting rod 34 upwardly, thereby rocking the pivoted lever its crooked end 36 will be disengaged from the lever 37. Lever 37 is carried by the shaft 38 of a spring motor 39, which spring motor will cause the lever 37 to rotate in such a manner that its end 40 will rock the pivoted lever 41 so as to bring the contact members 42 into engagement for closing the" circuit 43. Lever 41 is provided with a spring stop arm 44, which will flex when the spring motor 39 is released, thereby allowing the motor 21 to impart rotary movement to the pulleys 23. When this takes place the connecting rod 27 will be moved in the direction of the arrows 0 which will cause dampers 30 to be opened and dampers 29 closed, thus it will be seen that the feed located between the dampers will be allowed to move downwardly through the discharge pipe 14 and into the troughs 3. The dampers, of each discharge pipe are connected together by means of connecting rods 45 so that any number of discharge pipes may be used. After the mechanism has been released the crank arms 26 complete the rotation and come into engagement with the flexible arm 44, which breaks the circuit and stops the mechanism. After a complete operation or feeding operation the spring m0- tor may be rewound and the clock again set for the next feeding operation.

To prevent forced rotation of the shaft 8 and consequently the conveyer 7, after the conveying pipe 6 has become full, a spring actuated clutch 46 is provided on the shaft 8, said clutch comprising interengaging bevel teeth 47 carried by the member 48 and the slidably keyed member 49, which slidably keyed member is held in interengaging position with the teeth 47 0f the member 48 by means of a coiled spring 50. It will be seen that when the conveyer pipe 6 becomes full that the clutch member 49 will be forced out of engagement with the clutchmember 48 by the back pressure of the material within the pipe 6 on the conveyer 7, thereby allowing the rotation of the operating 35 so that.

mechanism. However when the pipe 6 is notfull it is obvious that the conveyer 7 will be rotated for feeding and conveying the feed. A

Itis obvious that to insure the proper feeding of the feed downwardly in the pipes 14, thatthe dampers 29 should be closed before the dampers 13 are opened. To accomplish this result the opening of the dam pers 30 is retarded by loosely mounting the pulley 24 on the shaft 18 and providing said shaft with an arm 51 which moves in a segmentally shaped recess 52 in one face of the pulley 24 until it engages the end 53 of the segmentally shaped recess 52 and starts the rotation of the pulley 24 As the pulley 24 rotates it will be seen that the immediate result is the opening of the that after said dampers are positions, the arm 51 will have moved to a position where it engages the end 53 of the segmentally shapedslot 52 at which time dampers 30 will be opened and the feed between the dampers allowed to drop into the troughs 3. r i

From the above it will be seen that an automatic feeding mechanism is provided which is positive in its operation and" one wherein'the structure is simple and the parts reducedto a minimum. It will also be seen that the operator can set the mechanism so that the feeding operation can take place at anydesired time thereby obviating the present practice where it is necessary for the stable man to measure and manually deposit the feed in the feeding trough.

The invention having been set forth what is claimed as new and useful is 1. A time controlled feeding device comprising a horizontally disposed conveyer pipe, a conveyer in said pipe, downwardly extending discharge pipes carried by the conveyer pipe, one end 7, of said conveyer pipe in communication with a feed bin, means located in the discharge pipes for allowing feed to be discharged from the discharge pipe and for preventing further dis charge afterthe feed has been discharged an means controlled by a clock for discharging the feed from the discharge pipes and working the conveyer in the conveyer P 1 r 2. A time controlled feeding device comprising ahorizontally disposed conveyer pipe, pipe being connected to a feed supply hopper, stirrers hain connections between the stirrers and the conveyer in the conveyer pipe, downwardly extending discharge pipes carried by the conveyer pipe, damper members located in said discharge pipe, the lower damper members bein normally closed, the upper dam er members being normally open, thereby ali mulation of feed between the dampers, crank owing accuarms carried by the dampers, said dampers both upper and lower being linked together between the crank arms, connecting rods connected to the end crank arms of the dampers, said connecting rods being pivotally connected to crank arms of rotatable members, said crank arms of the rotatable members extending in opposite directions, and time controlled mechanism for simultaneously rotating the conveyer in the con- .veyer pipe and openin the lower dampers and closing the upper ampers.

3. A time controlled feeding device comprising a horizontally disposed conveyer pipe, a conveyer in said pipe, said pipe being connected to feed a sup-ply hopper, stirrers in said hopper, sprocket and chain connections between the stirrers and the conveyer in the conveyer pipe, downwardly extending discharge pipes carried by the conveyer pipe, damper members located in said discharge pipe, the lower damper member being normally closed, the upper damper member being normally open,thereby allowing accumulation of feed between the dampers, crank arms carried by the dampers, said dampers bothupper and lower being linked together between the crank arms, connecting rods connected to the end crank arms of the dampers, said connecting rods being pivotally connected to crank arms of rotatable members, said crank arms of the rotatable members extending in opposite directions, time controlled mechanism for simultaneously rotating the conveyer in the conveyer pipe and opening in the lower dampers and closing the upper dampers and lever means engaged by one of the crank arms of the rotatable members for stopping the operating mechanism.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

O. C. O. EGELAND, THILMAR EGELAND. 

